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A/n this one shot was inspired by "Seven Seconds' even though it has nothing to do with the episode. I honestly don't know why, I only know I was watching it and the muse began prodding me. It's Emily and Reid only after she returns to the team.

Unhappy Ending

Three backward steps and her backside met the wall, gently, but irrevocably. She supposed that anyone that knew her would be surprised that she couldn't escape. It wasn't as though the person in front of her was physically imposing in any way. In fact, if she employed any one of the self-defense moves learned in her job, she'd take him down with no problem. She could maim or kill him with one blow. She had done just that in the past to more than one man. He was the first man that didn't seem to care that she could do him severe bodily harm if she wanted to.

"Move," She insisted.

"No…"

"Don't make me hurt you."

"You can't hurt me any more than you already have," He said hoarsely.

He stood there with his hands on the wall at either side of her head, boxing her in, closer than she wanted. He smelled of coffee, some kind of spicy soap and the misery she'd caused him.

"Back. Off." She said slowly.

"I don't think so."

His chocolate eyes, usually so kind and open, blazed out of their sockets with a fire she'd never seen. Gone was the puppy-eyed expression he wore when badly used. She didn't recognize this Reid. He resembled some kind of avenging angel. If he had wings and carried a sword, she'd tremble before him like an Old Testament sinner.

"Please Reid, let me explain."

"No! I'm tired of explanations. I'm sick of the 'let's placate Reid," tone in your voice.

"I'm not trying to placate you."

His face darkened terribly, enhancing her perception of him as an avenging angel. "You all think its okay to treat me like a child."

'Reid I've never -"

"I confided in you once." He interrupted. "I told you I trusted you because you're the only one that didn't treat me like a child, until now. You come back from the dead. You manipulate me so that I invite you over for coffee and explanations because you feel bad. I can't believe I fell for, 'why don't we talk and I'll explain everything? "

"Stop it Reid," She whispered, dismayed that she couldn't speak a loud.

His face hovered just above her. When had he moved in close enough for her to feel the heat of his breath on her cheek? The temptation to reach up and touch his angel's face was nearly overwhelming in its intensity. Her stomach clenched and heat raced through her chest. She drew in a shacking breath that hitched in her throat. Her heart jittered in her chest, racing so fast she began to feel lightheaded.

He turned his face to her and smiled. It wasn't his carefree smile, the one that always made her smile back. Instead, he suddenly reminded her of a predator that had trapped its prey and was on the point of striking a deathblow.

He touched her lips with one of his fingers, leaving an opening for her to duck around him. Instead, her whole being stood frozen under the power of his eyes. Her feet were tacked to the floor as though someone had set them in concrete hard as diamonds. Her eyes tracked back and forth in her sockets not lingering on his eyes because she couldn't bear to see such naked pain and desire. A desire so strong, that it threatened to consume her with its power.

The finger he'd placed on her lips slid down over her chin, and down her neck. She couldn't stop the shiver that wracked her body at the feather like touch. The long, delicate, but strong finger stopped just above the vee in her blouse.

"I missed you so much." He said, his voice cracking on the last word.

"I missed -"

"Don't say it." He commanded. "Don't say you missed me too. I don't believe it."

"Reid -"

"I said I don't want to hear it."

He leaned in so close she couldn't see anything but his eyes. He inclined his face and whispered in her ear. His breath raised the hair on the back of her neck. "Do you know how much I longed to see you just one more time?"

He moved, placing his right hand on her shoulder. He didn't block her in now and she could run, but she couldn't make her feet move yet.

"I'm sorry."

It was a stupid and meaningless sentiment, but she couldn't get her mouth to connect with her brain and think of something better than "I'm sorry."

The hand at the first button on her blouse fell away. He shifted again and stared right into her eyes. The quality of light in them changed again as he studied her. She felt heat rushing into her cheeks. When was the last time she'd blushed?

He leaned in closer, his lips descending toward her mouth with aching slowness. She closed her eyes, waiting to taste his mouth, and feel if his lips were as soft as she'd imagined one lonely night in Italy when it seemed like she'd never see her friends and family again. Her heart stuttered again as time stretched out. Why did she want to feel his lips and taste him? She didn't feel that way about him.

She waited and tried to figure out this rush of desire, but his mouth didn't touch hers, she only felt the exhalations of his breath on her skin, popping gooseflesh out all over her body. She couldn't hear anything but the booming beat of her heart and his breathing as he stayed a hairbreadth away from contact.

She couldn't take it anymore. She had to open her eyes. When she lifted her lids he was gone, or rather he'd pulled away from her and escaped to the other side of the hall. Strange, she hadn't felt him move away from her.

"Reid?"

Oh God… She hated the pleading quality in her voice. She was Emily Prentiss and she didn't beg even though she had wronged him in the worst way.

"What kind of game are you playing?" She managed to get out in a hoarse accusation.

"Oh, I'm sorry Emily. I forgot that the great Emily Prentiss was the only one allowed to have secrets and play games with people's lives."

"That's not what I -"

"NO!" He shouted and she flinched. He never shouted. "I talk and you listen. A part of me died the night JJ told us you weren't coming back. I lost one of the best pieces of me when I thought your were dead. Now, I have to reintegrate that piece back into my life. I was in love with you Emily. I'll bet you didn't even realize it."

"Reid I -"

"Stop…" He held up a hand. "I told you it was my turn to talk and your turn to listen."

He stood silent as death for a long minute, until she'd decided to walk out the door and never come back. The fire remained in his eyes, but it wasn't the fire of an avenging angel anymore, just an angry and devastated man.

"I was in love with you Emily. You were this wonderful fantasy, the ideal woman for me. You're kind, compassionate, and giving. You're smart, funny and you kick ass on a daily basis. You were willing to die for all of us to keep us safe. When I thought you were dead, I was stupid enough to wonder if maybe you were still with us as some kind of guardian angel. Even though you'd lied to us, it was a lie to protect us."

"Reid -"

He only glared at her and she fell silent. "Then Hotch tells us that he and JJ faked your death so you could go after Doyle on your own. When Hotch told us you'd come back, I realized that I don't love you anymore. In fact, I'm not sure I like you. You came back and ripped the team apart. How are we supposed to trust each other now that we know half the team is willing to betray the other half?"

She swallowed hard, unable to speak or respond to the misery in his voice and eyes. "Please just leave. I need time to decide if I ever want to trust you again."

She nodded numbly. "I do care about you Reid it's just that…" She couldn't make her lips form the words for a 'gentle let down.'

"I don't want to hear it."

She pushed away from the wall. "Whether you believe it or not, I do care."

He shook his head. "Despite what everyone on the team thinks, I'm not a kid Emily. I'm a man."

"I know that Reid."

"I'm a man," He went on as though he didn't hear her. "I'm capable of getting my heart broken."

"I never said you weren't," She responded. "Please let me make it up to you."

He laughed and it brought the hair to attention on the back of her neck. "Don't say you'll make it up to me. You can't and I don't want you to. I have to figure it out on my own. From now on, we work together, but we're not friends Emily. I'll never let you get inside again."

"Reid…"

Not since Garcia had left her a pleading message to come home, had she shed a tear. Now they flowed like rain down a window pain.

"Everyone I let into my heart leaves or betrays me. I lose everyone I care for. No more!"

She took a step toward him, but he flinched away like a newborn horse from her out stretched hand. "You can only take so much and then you have to say enough is enough. I'm saying it now Emily. Please go away."

He turned and walked away from her, rounding a corner and disappearing from her view. She took one step toward him before her good sense stopped her feet. Tears dropped to his living room floor, leaving an invisible trail as she turned and left, shutting the door behind her with a final click that ripped her heart in two.

She leaned back against the door wishing for another end to the story, a storybook ending in which the prince forgives the princess and they live happily ever after. This wasn't a fairy tale, and she wasn't a princess. Happy ever after didn't exist in the real world and trust was earned, not given. She'd have to start over and earn their trust, his trust again. Maybe then, there could be a happy ending.